Lovebox 2010 review

Ignore the weather reports, folks - Lovebox has returned sunnier and more spectacular than before.

I headed to the Victoria Park festival on its opening day - the first time the event has been held on a Friday - for what was possibly the best one-dayer in the capital so far.

The Friday lineup was irresistible to a grimey bassline lover like myself. I could have spent three days dancing to all those DJs. Actually, my legs now feel like I have spent three days dancing, the music was so darn good.

I was gutted to miss my buddy Smurfie Syco's set on the main stage, but that's because I was delayed by a magical mystery tour of London to get cheap tickets off some dodgy African dudes. Thankfully though, the tickets themselves were not dodgy. An auspicious start.

I did, however, arrive in time to have a brockout in the sun to grime collective Newham Generals. On turntable honours was DJ Tubby, a dubstep and grime regular at nights such as FWD, as well as Dizzee Rascal's occasional tour DJ.

Waving goodbye to the sunshine for a bit, we headed into the NYC arena for the end of MJ Cole's set. As usual, it was off the hook; I've seen that man DJ about 50 times over the last ten years and not once has he failed to smash it. Whenohwhen will he release another album?

The delightful Joy Orbison took control next, playing a summery, funky, garagey set which, despite being awesome, couldn't contend with the sunshine outside, so I headed off to catch Toddla T at the Rizla stage.

Bestival heads will know what I'm on about here: the Rizla stage KICKS ASS. Totally. Always. Everywhere. The setup, the production, the lineup, the vibe - the dudes at Rizla know a thing or two about facilitating fun, don't they? So we were mighty pleased to see them set up camp at Lovebox and boy, did Toddla T do us all proud.

The slightly geeky-looking Sheffield producer (pictured above) - boyfriend of Radio One's Annie Mac, dontcha know - plays the most skankatronic sets, mashing up styles from dancehall to electro. And it was brilliant!

But Rizla, is that all the fun you're going to throw at us? NO?

Holy moly. Next up, a supremely chirpy Todd Edwards played classic garage, house and generally rather funky stuff. As a garage devotee who used to write in depth about the scene, I'm ashamed to admit I had never seen 'The God' DJ. Now I can die fulfilled. And hopefully as happy as him.

Dizzee Rascal closed the party with one of his best performances ever (trust me, I've seen a lot of them). It could have something to do with the streamers, the smoke effects, the lights - production levels were ramped up to the max for this show - or the amount of cider I'd consumed by this point. But in honesty, his oeuvre is so well suited to festivals, and he's such a charming  performer, that the crowd loves him. I'm not the biggest fan of his most recent tracks so it took me by surprise how well they worked live.

If you're umming and ahhing about whether to go to Lovebox over this weekend, there really is no question. Run to Victoria Park now! 

We need to talk about Wiley

I'm dedicating this extended blog post to east London grime artist Wiley. Not because I think he's great, but because I think he's, well, a bit weird.

Every interview I come across, he rants about another artist. He's well known for hating Lethal Bizzle. But who else is on his target list?

EXHIBIT A: an interview he did with Time Out magazine last year. He says: 'You know what, yeah? People think I'm mad. I understand why, but I'm not mad. I am actually quite sane... I'm tired of all the talking. I just want to make music.'

He then has a dig at Dizzee Rascal (nothing new there, then. But I'm definitely with Team Dizzee on this one - having known him for three years I can safely say he's a very nice chap indeed.) Wiley also throws in a dig at pop cutie Tinchy Stryder, bizarrely proclaiming: 'I am Tinchy Stryder. I literally am him.' Right.

EXHIBIT B: this hilarious video with my new buddy Nabil Abdul Rashid, a stand-up comedian who interviewed Willy, I mean Wiley, for his comedy sketch programme, The Sho Sho Show, on urban music broadcaster Channel AKA. Doesn't seem like Wiley's 'tired of all the talking' here, huh?



(If anyone can explain why he says his new name is Joe 91, please do. Frankly, I'm baffled.)

EXHIBIT C: Wiley vs J Weezy - an MC battle outside Iceland, no less. J Weezy clearly has some sort of hyperactive ADHD thing going on, and Wiley takes this opportunity to show off his amazing MCing skills. Sorry - did I say amazing? I meant turd.



EXHIBIT D: Wiley's track 'Never Be Your Woman' (the Herve mix is out at the end of the month.) It's a remix of the 1997 White Town original, and it's utter gash. It follows the Wiley formula of bragging about himself, his cars, etc etc. But why he's picked this vocal is beyond me - why can't Wiley ever be my woman? Gravity Skanker thinks the lady doth protest too much.

I'll end this piece with a fantastic retort by grime hotshot Skepta. Yes, you guessed it - he's been on the receiving end of Wiley's potty mouth, too. This is what Skepta, a north Londoner like myself, has to say in return: